I believed, therefore have I spoken
Here the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic
versions, begin a new psalm, but without any foundation in the
original; nor is it countenanced by the Targum; and is manifestly
against the connection with the preceding verses. David expresses
his faith in relation to what goes before, though the particulars
of it are not mentioned, but are left to be supplied from thence:
he not only believed there was a God, but that this God was
gracious and merciful, and that he was his God; who had made a
covenant with him, ordered in all things, and sure: he believed
the promises of it; and particularly the grand promise of it
respecting Christ, and salvation by him: he believed the Lord
would deliver him out of all his troubles; that he should walk
before him, and see his goodness in the land of the living; he
believed a future state of happiness he should hereafter enjoy.
The Apostle Paul quotes this passage, and applies it to himself
and other Gospel ministers; declaring their faith in the
resurrection of the dead, and an eternal weight of glory they
were looking for, ( 2
Corinthians 4:13 2
Corinthians 4:14 ) ; and therefore spake so freely about
these things. Faith gives boldness and freedom of speech to men;
which believers use with God in prayer, in the believing views of
him, as their God in Christ; and of Christ, his person, blood,
righteousness, and sacrifice: it gives ministers boldness and
freedom to speak out plainly, constantly, and boldly, the Gospel
of Christ; it gives the same to private Christians, to speak
freely one to another of their gracious experiences, and to
declare publicly to the churches of Christ what God has done for
their souls;
I was greatly afflicted;
when he believed and spake, and yet nevertheless did; he might be
afflicted, reproached, and persecuted for his faith, and his
speaking of it; particularly as it respected his coming to the
crown and kingdom of Israel. And it is no unusual thing for
saints to be persecuted for their faith, and profession of it;
and yet none of these things move them from it; their faith
remains, and is much more precious than gold that perisheth; and
they hold fast the profession of it. Many and great afflictions
are the common lot of believers.